 photo: Ildar Sagdejev
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10 Time Saving Keyboard Shortcuts by: Steve Robson
Time is money. And when you constantly have to divide your time between your mouse and your keyboard, your workflow rate really slows down.
More Windows shortcuts Windows key + D: Show the desktop Windows key + Pause/Break: System Windows key + M: Minimize Windows key + L: Lock Shift-Arrow Keys: Highlight Ctrl-A: Highlight all items F5: Refresh view Ctrl + +Key: Align columns Ctrl-Shift-Esc: Windows Task Manager Ctrl + T: Open a new tab Ctrl + Tab: Go to next tab Ctrl + W: Close this tab Ctrl + Scroll wheel: Zoom in and out and finally . . . Microsoft's official list of shortcuts |
That's particularly true when you're working on a laptop, where the pointing device is even slower. The answer - short of growing another arm - is to learn a few handy keyboard shortcuts. Here are ten of the best [for Microsoft Windows - rb]:
1. Make a quick exit:
ALT - F4 will terminate any program immediately.
2. Flick - don't click:
ALT - TAB to flick through open programs.
3. Make a quick selection:
CTRL - SHIFT and move cursor with left / right / up / down arrows to quickly select areas of text.
4. Cut, copy, and paste:
CTRL - X / C / V to cut, copy and paste selected text.
5. Undo what you've done:
CTRL - Z will undo anything. (And to redo: CTRL - Y although this varies between programs.)
6. Page - don't scroll:
In MSIE [Internet Explorer] use Page Up & Page Down to save time fiddling with the scroll bar.
7. E for explorer:
WINDOWS KEY - E to open Windows Explorer. Use up and down arrows to quickly navigate through folders.
8. 
Rapidly rename:
F2 - rename a file or folder in Windows Explorer
9. Find it fast:
CTRL - F to find text on a page (And CTRL - H to replace it).
10. Fly through forms:
Use TAB to move forward through forms and SHIFT-TAB to move backwards
After a little practice, your fingers will be flying across the keyboard like a shortcut pro. And you'll save a huge amount of time too.